Kyle Smith is an associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies on the Mississauga campus and the Department for the Study of Religion on the St. George campus. He has taught at the University of Toronto since 2011. In 2015, he received the University's Early Career Teaching Award.

Professor Smith regularly teaches a number of undergraduate courses at UTM, including: "Introduction to Christianity"; "Christmas: A History"; "Women and Gender in Early and Medieval Christianity"; and "Making Martyrs: From Socrates to the Suicide Bomber." For graduate students at UTSG, he teaches courses on martyrdom and asceticism in early Christianity and the history of Christianity in the ancient Near East.

His research focuses primarily on the history of Christianity in Roman Mesopotamia and the Sasanian Persian Empire in the late antique period (ca. 200-650 CE). He has edited and translated several Christian martyrdom narratives from Syriac, a dialect of Palestinian Aramaic, and has published a detailed study of the Roman emperor Constantine and the Christians of Persia.

Currently, he is writing a book for a general audience called Collectors of the Dead: A History of Christianity as a Martyr Cult.

Professor Smith holds a PhD in Early Christianity from Duke University, an MA in Early Christianity from the University of Notre Dame, and a BA in Philosophy and International Peace Studies also from the University of Notre Dame.

Current Courses:

Fall:

RLG340H5: Topics in Christianity: Christmas: A History

RLG440H5: Topics in Christianity: Women and Gender in Early and Medieval Christianity